What I (want to) do...athletic communications

The past couple of months have been some of the greatest of my life. Last semester I made a tough decision to not pursue what I THOUGHT was my dream position as the Sports Information Director at my alma mater, only serving as an interim from September to the end of December. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was able to spend most of my time walking through the final stages of my wife’s pregnancy with her.

Now that our lives are returning to “normal,” I am starting to think more and more about my career. As most of you know, there have been many up’s and down’s along the way in my “professional” life since I graduated with my undergrad. I have applied for all kinds of positions in different types of companies and at several different universities. I have been in situations that I loved but it didn’t work out, and in situations that I couldn’t get out of quick enough.

Recently, in an interview for a part time job, I was asked the question, “where do you see yourself in five years?” Thank God I didn’t say what came to mind when I was asked that. But it really got me thinking about where I really wanted to be.

Of course I really don’t know where, as in location, but I know I want to be serving a college/university as an athletic communicator. Early in my college career when I got an opportunity to help out during football games, I became fascinated with the role these individuals play in college athletics.

About a year ago, I had someone tell me that the only reason I was a sports information director was because I wasn’t good enough to be an athlete. Even though this person was trying to insult me, I find it as a source of pride (despite it actually bothering me a little). As a sports fan who has never really been skilled at a particular sport, I realized this was my opportunity to serve, and make my staple in athletics.

Athletic communications is more than being a sports fan though; it’s about the student-athletes, coaches and the institutions. Many of the student-athletes would not receive some of the awards they receive if there wasn’t an athletic communicator behind the scenes nominated them (many times for the coaches). It is about recognizing the accomplishments of the athletes, coaches and teams.

I understand that I may not be able to hang with 99% of the participants of college athletics, but I love what I do behind the scenes, despite the stress sometimes. Ha!

I may not get recognized for being the guy that updates the website in a timely manner after the game with a score and recap, or the reason the stats are at least mostly accurate, but the joy some student-athletes get when they are recognized makes it all worth it.